Parliamentary committee accepts the dismissal of MP organising the event causing Tbilisi rallies
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, July 17
The Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules of the Parliament of Georgia unanimously supported the termination of MP status for Zakaria Kutsnashvili, a member of the Georgian Dream ruling party who was one of the key organisers of the 26th Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in mid-June, leading to mass anti-occupation protests in Tbilisi.
The final decision will be made at the upcoming plenary session of parliament.
Kutsnashvili was both the organiser and one of the initiators of the event in the Georgian Parliament when Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov took the seat of the Georgian parliament speaker to address the audience.
Irritated people, as an MP from the occupier country, was allowed to take the high tribune, took to the streets on June 20.
Kutsnashvili says that the United National Movement used the people’s feelings that night, which led to the rally dispersal.
Kutsnashvili stated on June 21 that he was ready to quit his mandate.
“It would not be right for me to stay in parliament after resignation of the parliament speaker,” he said.
Kutsnashvili stated that the representative of Greece should have moderated the event and he did not know how Gavrilov appeared at the tribune.
His statement came after the resignation of Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and the rally dispersal, which left 240 injured and 305 detained, with rallies going on in central Tbilisi more than 20 days with the demand of dismissal of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia for the dispersal.
No by-election will take place in Dusheti, where Kutsnashvili was elected in 2016, as by-elections are held in Georgia only in the autumn or in the spring.
The election code reads that if the MP status is suspended between February 15 and July 15, elections are held in the autumn. If the status is suspended between July 15 and February 15, elections will be held in spring.
Kutsnashvili’s status was not suspended until July 15 for the elections to be held in the autumn of 2019.
The code says that now the elections must take place in the spring of 2020. However, it is impossible as 2020 is the year of parliamentary elections when MPs will be newly elected in the Georgian parliament anyway.
“The Georgian Dream is so afraid of any elections that they stretched the suspension procedure to avoid it,” UNM member Khatuna Gogorishvili said.
Member of the same party Roman Gotsiridze stated that Kobakhidze’s and Kutsnashvili’s resignation was not sufficient.
He said that Gakharia must have been dismissed and snap parliamentary elections appointed.
